history

This exhibition documents or shows rather the first sustained contacts between the Native American people and European Explorers, settlers, and conquerors between 1492 and 1600. Besides Europeans, other people from other parts of the world as well went to America. Among them were Africans who were taken to America mainly as slaves. The voyage shows representatives of two separate and complex parts of the world that were previously not known to each other. It is more of a discovery from either side of existence of a new people and a new world to them. It was an accidental contact. The encounter took place at the Islands of the Bahamas at the end of the 15th century AD, specifically, in 1492.

The encounter brought to an end a history hidden in the obscurity of ignorance. It brought about a long lasting contact which was the beginning of many adventures, many desirable and some undesirable at all.

Some of the effects were conquest and exploration, settlement, as well as change of cultures of either side. The effect of this never ended at the end of the seventeenth century but rather the effect s continued to date.

This accidental encounter brought them into lasting contact, initiating an intense process of exploration, conquest, and acculturation in the Americas that would continue throughout the sixteenth century and beyond.

This exhibition describes both the pre and the post contact worlds of the Mediterranean and the Americas. It is neither possible no fair to exclude Africa from the equation since it was very significant to the two especially between the contact dates and the 1600. The six sections of the exhibition; The myth, inventing America, Europe claims America, the Epilogue , What came to be called America and the Mediterranean world are such important of the world history and the change initiated by the very encounter such that they had to be preserved by the virtue of the library of congress buying the rights to these historical gems.

We can begin from the very reason behind the meeting; the voyages of Christopher Columbus, a famous explorer from the state of Genoa in Italy. He voyages though were funded and facilitated by the Spanish crownship . The main aim of the Spaniards was to find a route of trade with the East Indies, a route that they would not conflict with other nations like Portugal that had already benefited from the exploits of Vasco Da Gama.

Current day Mexico is more often called the Spanish Mexico with Spanish being their main official language. This is one of the very effects of the issues portrayed in the ‘voyage’. Imperialism was core and actually finding new trade routes and trade destinations was the reason behind the voyage. Even though the original intended place is not where Columbus landed, it still did not stop the idea from gaining roots that developed into colonialism. At that time the doctrine of mercantilism was gaining roots in Europe with a huge wave and thus nations were eager to get new trading partners or new places to sell off their already finished goods. The most important element was to find new land to cultivate noting that at that time the Agrarian revolution was at its peak. Settlers thus quickly moved to the Americas or the ‘Newfoundland’ since the European population was already ballooning. The settlers began large scale farming and they so much needed labor for their farms. This factor brought in new members into the equation; Africans, basically as slaves to provide the settler farmers with man power as they struggled to generate raw materials for factories and accrue wealth. This led to the establishment of the Trans-Atlantic Trade.

Effects of the ‘blend’ of the Americas was a world of diversity in terms or cultural economic activities. The current ‘RnB’ melodies trace their roots in Africa and slavery.

The voyage is a real summery of a joining of worlds apart.

Religion and the Foundation of the American Republic.

In this exhibition there is demonstration that many of the colonies that ended up forming the United states that exist today actually comprised of individuals of deep religious convictions who had traversed the Atlantic so as to be able to practice their faith freely. Much attention is usually given to the other aspects, mainly economic aspects of life as the sole reason for emigration into America in the 17th century and before. This exhibit however brings in a new dimension by proving that there are deep roots of the American immigrants then into being embedded in religion. Indeed most of these immigrants were running away from segregation and persecution by their own governments or societies in which the y lived. Many Immigrants of Jewish origin found their way into America where they remain to date with the unlimited and uncontrolled freedom of practicing Judaism.

It is these religious men and women who opposed colonization by Great Britain in 1776 which largely contributed to the independence of the United States in the same year. They not only i9nfluenced to decision for freedom but also determined a lot on the way the country was ran thereafter. When most American Statesmen they shared the convictions and believes of their religious state members. Thus as a result both the state and the National governments were run by individuals that associated closely with and appreciated religion. They coincided with Alexis de Tocqueville's observation that indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions.

The new statesmen ( Founders of the American nation) thus also defined the role of religious faith in public life and the degree to which it could be supported by public officials that was not inconsistent with the revolutionary imperatives of the equality and freedom of all citizens is the central question which this exhibition explores.

To date the influence and role of the religious immigrants most of whom settled long before 1865 is printed indelibly on the dollar bill: “IN GOD WE TRUST”.

References

Religion and the Founding of the American RepublicExhibition Home. (n.d.). Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion

The Blink 182 Handbook - Everything you need to know about Blink 182. (n.d.). Scribd. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/137294703/The-Blink-182-Handbook-Everything-you-need-to-know-about-Blink-182

The ongoing voyage. (2002, December 22). americanhistory.com. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://dealhi.com/Search/527